On the AI stalking horse – and the fight to contain data centres
According to energy writer Ketan Joshi Anthropic, which is one of the leaders in the AI revolution, does not disclose “a single number regarding their energy consumption, emissions, water impacts or biodiversity impacts”.
“Midway through last year they published a whitepaper arguing the US should be **SETTING TARGETS** for the use of fossil gas,” Joshi says.
“Not a target to phase it out: a target to INCREASE its construction and use.”
“That they fundamentally do not consider this fossil fuel to be harmful speaks volumes about their focus on ‘safety’ around their products,” he says.
It’s like the tech bros already own the planet.
Think about the state of play so far. They’ve foisted everything they want on us – generally without a murmur of discontent as we grab all the fun endorphin-generating (and stealing) games, cat videos and the shopping offers that we can get, preferring our screens to the world around us – and even to people.
With the world an ever more threatening place it’s no surprise really. You win some, you lose some. It’s a gamble. And can be relatively physically safe unless you actually gamble or go down the destructive rabbit holes that abound.
Already robots developed by AI are getting so sophisticated that they’re touted as replacement human support for older folk and others with disability. Not to mention that some people have married robots and prefer the relationships they offer to those offered by pesky unreliable humans.
Now we have the amazing AI answering our every question before it’s even taken shape in the diminishing brain space we devote to creativity.
But there’s some real world impact from AI and the data centres that power them and it’s alarming a growing number of people – the voracious appetite they have for energy and water consumption.
These beasts are massive but the opportunity to make squillions from them has attracted big money and political interest.
Goodman for instance, the company previously better known as a global leader in industrial/logistics property, has succumbed to the financial joys of those big dark boxes and ploughed about three quarters of its $14 billion empire into the sector.
Australian states are fighting over them.
Victorian Minister for Growth Daniel Pearson said: “We are in a race and I’m determined to make sure this state wins the jobs, wins the investment, so we’ve got the building blocks to create sustainable jobs of the future.
“So much of Victoria’s prosperity in the 20th century was created through manufacturing and I want to make sure that we land these factories of the 21st century right here in Victoria.”
We’re not sure what he’s talking about. Factories of the 20th century actually created jobs.
The jobs data centres create will be miniscule – they’re not designed for human comfort; there’ll be bit of maintenance and hardware upgrade needed from time to time, maybe.
The owners of this new means of production though will no doubt keep raking in the rewards producing nothing actually tangible to our modern world beyond a cyber reality that for many people will look increasingly more attractive to than the real one.
Not that we blame them.
We’d rather blame the eco-political environment that’s shut young people (and older folk) out of a home – and what that means for a decent life – and now proposes a piddling cut to the capital gains tax discount (down from 50 per cent to 33 per cent) for investment properties, in case we upset the “havealots” who control the show.
Fightback begins
So far the sector has had open slather – getting approvals that don’t take their particular needs and would-be obligations into account.
See our article on data centres late last year.
But now a broad coalition of environment, unions and clean energy interests has gathered to call a halt to the lack of discipline and it’s asking that these centres fall in with national goals and objectives with a plan delivered to Industry Minister Tim Ayres and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton.
The coalition includes the big voices in the space: the Clean Energy Council, Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF-Australia, Smart Energy Council, RE-Alliance, Climate Energy Finance, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Environment Victoria, Queensland Conservation Council, Sunrise Project Australia and Carbon Zero Initiative.
It’s not just energy and water at stake but the skills needed to build these centres which take away from meeting housing targets.
The plan proposes eight principles:
- Be powered by 100 per cent additional renewable energy
- Strengthen grid stability
- Be appropriately sites to minimise impacts on nature and land use
- Minimise embodied emissions and maximise efficiency and circularity
- Use water resources responsibly
- Operate with transparency
- Commit to earning and delivering ongoing social licence
- Support the training and upskilling of the workforce
The announcement of the plan came with some comments and this selection is worth sharing we think, as the rest of Australia starts to wake up the stalking horse within.
The Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Adam Bandt:
“Data centres guzzle power and water, and big tech corporations could derail the clean energy transition unless we regulate them.
“If you want to build a data centre, you should have to build the renewables and water recycling to power it. Big tech corporations should be forced to do their fair share, so they don’t drain our resources.”
Jackie Trad, CEO of the Clean Energy Council:
“Electricity demand from Australia’s data centre growth is expected to rise from 1.35 GW today to between 5-8 GW by 2035. Without new supplies of electricity to meet this demand, this will place increased pressure on all existing generation resources.
Data centres powered exclusively by new renewable energy can grow the existing supply pool without increasing pressure on existing residential and commercial electricity users,” she said.
Clean Energy Finance director Tim Buckley: “Data centre investment is red hot, so we expect our governments to ensure that giving approvals to new infrastructure projects comes with clear community benefits — after all, the data centres can only be built leveraging the existing publicly funded water and grid infrastructure we have all paid for.
Approvals should be conditional upon new long-term firmed renewables PPA (power purchase agreements) as a pre-requisite. Approvals should come with clear community alignment and best practice, including developing a green energy powered future made in Australia.”
And how big is this industry already?
NextDC which has 17 data centres across Australia and Asia, with a further 11 projects in development or planning stages, said this week it will spend $2.7 Billion on facilities this year.
Victoria and NSW are scrambling to offer their states to these giants. NSW Premier Chris Minns, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, Planning Minister Paul Scully and Energy Minister Penny Sharpe plus their Victorian counterparts have all met AirTrunk, Microsoft, NextDC, CDC and Amazon Web Services, according to ministerial diaries sourced by The Australian Financial Review. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has said Victoria will be “ruthless” in targeting them, and Pearson has promised lighter-touch regulation to speed up approvals. A data centre by NextDC centre in Port Melbourne had been approved in 75 days.
One good thing coming out of the Minns government amid a bevy of fails lately is that it’s expected to announce soon that data centres will be required to buy renewable energy, which will encourage investment in renewables and improve data centres’ social licence.